Clinical outcomes of Clutch Cutter endoscopic submucosal dissection for older patients with early gastric cancer.

Aim: To evaluate the clinical outcome of endoscopic submucosal dissection using the Clutch Cutter (ESDCC) in older patients.
Methods: We reviewed 232 consecutive patients with early gastric cancer who underwent ESDCC between June 2010 and February 2014 at Aso Iizuka Hospital. We divided patients into two groups according to age: Older patients (> 80 years, n = 64) and non-older patients (≤ 80 years, n = 168). We retrospectively compared the prevalence rates of pre-existing comorbidities, anticoagulant therapy, en bloc resection, mean duration of hospitalization, incidence of ESDCC-related complications, change in performance status (PS) before and after ESDCC, and financial cost of admission.
Results: The older group comprised 64 patients with a mean age of 84.1 years, and the non-older group comprised 168 patients with a mean age of 69.5 years. Older patients had significantly more pre-existing comorbidities than did non-older patients, specifically heart disease ( P < 0.05). The en bloc resection rate in non-older patients was significantly higher than that in older patients (100% vs 95.3%, P = 0.02). There were no significant differences between the older and non-older groups in the incidence of ESDCC-related complications ( i.e ., postoperative bleeding and perforation) and the post-ESDCC change in PS. There were also no significant differences between the older and non-older groups in the mean duration of hospitalization (11.4 and 10.7 d, respectively) and financial cost of admission (657040 JPY and 574890 JPY, respectively).
Conclusion: ESDCC has a good clinical outcome in older patients.
Competing Interests: Conflict-of-interest statement: Kazuya Akahoshi and Hidefumi Akahane (Fujifilm) have applied for a patent in Europe for the CC described in this article. Japan, China, and the United States have already granted patents.